HOPKINTON — Middle School Assistant Principal Maryellen Grady is hoping students will be able to step into the school’s courtyard for the first time this fall — maybe even have the first school dance out there.

A project known as "The Sky is the Limit" to transform the building’s inaccessible courtyard into an outdoor classroom and recreational space is well underway. Over the summer, crews cleared the lot, planted grass seed and prepared to install three new doorways.

There were overgrown bushes and an unused satellite in the space before the work.

"It was a wasteland," Grady said. "It was unused space. There were beautiful trees, but it was overgrown."

There is still a lot of work to do. The vision is to revitalize the space and open it to students with new trees, a performance stage, movie screen, gazebo and benches. The work will be done in phases, with the first phase simply opening up the space.

Students return to school on Sept. 4.

The idea has been in the works for over three years with the support from Principal Alan Keller.

"Alan said ‘Go for it, see what you can do," Grady said.

Grady, who is going into her fourth year as assistant principal, said teachers, staff, students, parents and others in the community have been working on the design together — and fundraising. So far, $150,000 has been raised.

Money is coming in from a variety of individuals and student and community groups. Two teachers, Kristen Mercier and Sarah Drury, ran the Boston Marathon to raise money. There have been spaghetti dinners, performances, restaurant nights, a yoga-thon and raffles.

Tom Dawson Architecture has donated services to help with the design.

A tribute of about $50,000 was donated by the Shayne Desroches Memorial Fund. Desroches, 13, an eighth-grader at the school, was struck and killed last year while riding his bicycle on Hayden Rowe Street near his house.

"Everybody wanted to remember Shayne in a positive way," Grady said.

Grady said the improved courtyard will create a safe space for students to meet after school, with many students saying there is nowhere to go. It will also be open for community events.

"The students will own it," she said. "That ownership will make them responsible and take pride in it."

While Grady has spearheaded the project, she says it’s been a community effort.

"The people of Hopkinton believe in this," she said. "It will be a place everyone in the community can use. This is not just for our school."

She hopes the work will be done by the end of 2015.

For more information go to hopkinton.k12.ma.us/middle and click on Sky is Limit Courtyard project.

Page 2 of 2 - Jonathan Phelps can be reached at 508-626-4338 or jphelps@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @JPhelps_MW.